Right now we have just 8 faq posts.
That's not terrible, but they are in various states, various formats, and one of them is even closed. I think it would be great to clean up these posts, decide on a format and figure out a process for bringing in new FAQ questions (and apply the tag now to the best ones we have here on Meta).
Motivations
- Provide a great place for new users to start learning about the best ways to use this site.
- Provide links for experienced users to use in comments on questions or answers that need attention.
- Take a big step in fixing this site!
I have three main proposals and a couple questions.
1. Make the FAQ tagged questions more FAQ-y
In my understanding, the faq tag should be used for the most frequently asked and answered questions on Meta. (That's what the tag wiki says, at least.)
I propose we review which questions are tagged faq, and fix any that are out of place (such as those about the site-faq which I propose as the replacement tag).
I believe that these questions should be in Question and Answer form, so that users can see quickly that it's a question they actually have.
Right now, these are the questions we have in the tag:
Why is “what language should I learn” considered off-topic? - Good question. Should be community wiki, and I'm not sure the answers are quite there yet.
Proposed FAQ change regarding career advice questions - Since it's about the actual FAQ page I'm not sure if the tag was correctly applied, but it's a good question (deserves it anyway). It just needs to be edited to question-answer form.
I've updated our FAQ. - Honestly I'm not sure I understand the inclusion of this one (why is it closed as too localize?)
How does Programmers site work? - Perfect. Shining example of what a faq question can be. Oh - except for maybe fixing the grammar in the title :)
The Six Subjective Question Guidelines — Enforcement Notice - Great topic, but needs Q&A format.
When is it acceptable for a moderator to make a unilateral decision to close a question? - Good
What's the difference between Programmers and Stack Overflow? - Great question. Need to turn Mark's whole answer into an updated answer, and I wish we could accept it somehow.
What should our FAQ contain? - Kind of meta. I think it's more site-faq than faq
2. A FAQ index
The FAQ for Stack Exchange Sites at Meta.SO is great. Would be cool to see one like that here.
3. Figure out a process for bringing in new FAQ posts
Specifically, where do we propose a good posts, discuss its merits, or decide on the "right" answer?
My first nomination is "Real Questions have Answers". This is the post announcing the addition of the section to the FAQ page, but I think it would be great to have a "Are polls ok?" question with a bit longer answer (community wiki) comprising the best writing on this topic.
Ideally this answer would also talk about how we should avoid "you/your" in questions, so we can use it in comments on questions like this one — the question that got me thinking about all of this in the first place.
For this process, maybe we could use the meta-faq tag I created for this question (no others fit).
Questions
Is the Q&A format (a la Meta.SO) correct for this site? I believe it is, but I'm open to opposing viewpoints.
If we do go with Q&A format for FAQ questions, how do we arrive at the right answer but still allow voting, discussion (comments), and editing?
The Skeptics site is working on solution for this that involves turning the original into a discussion/staging area and posting a new question with the best/correct answer. However, I'm not a big fan of this. I posted an answer that became the "official" one but all that served to do was branch the conversation.
How do we push the right answer to the top on FAQ questions? Votes? Accept it?